10am. Pullman Hotel, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia.
A warm, cloudy & wet weather. One White Ghost. A Rolls Royce Ghost as a matter of fact. Ready for a test drive. Kuching is a small town in the State of Sarawak in Malaysia. To have a Rolls Royce is not easy in Kuching for a couple of reasons - it does not have a large market unlike in West Malaysia where the capital city Kuala Lumpur (KL) is situated therefore is no official showroom and as well as certified people to maintain the car. However, a prestige property promoting and looking for buyers in Sarawak came and Rolls Royce KL was one of the sponsors. There they have brought along the Ghost for show and available for test drive. It was definitely the opportunity to look at the Rolls Royce in detail so my cousin, Alex, & I headed to Pullman & made arrangements to see the Ghost since personally I have been a Rolls Royce fan.
The Ghost is a less-big, easier to drive version of the famous, enormous Phantom...it is easier because of Kuching roads where at certain places the roads are small along with the traffic. This particular Ghost is a demo standard. Of course with the famous Rolls Royce Bespoke Program you will get more options like the colours, electronics, the optic star light roofing and much more. This particular Ghost maybe a standard but it still has all the posh luxury you would expect on a Rolls Royce. Outside, you get the very shiny polished white body what the people called a "piano finish", the famous back doors which are known as the carriage or suicide doors, you have the distinctive Pantheon front grill and one of the most iconic mascots in the world, the Spirit of Ecstasy, where it takes the form of a flying lady which has been beautiful crafted and cared for in great detail. Inside along with the beautiful upholstery, it is an extremely comfortable environment to be for a car thanks to the comfortable red top grade leather and the surrounding craftsmanship like the wood and stitchings.
The ride:
Under the bonnet lies a massive BMW 6.6 litre twin turbo V12 engine producing 562 horsepower, which is about the same power you get from a Ferrari 458. But being different from the Ferrari, this car is so quiet and civilised, hearing the engine the only time is when the car is accelerating hard in a smooth, quiet yet effortlessly in a powerful manner. Even with the twin turbo you do not feel the turbo lag. Driving this car around especially because it is rare in Kuching does catch quite a lot of attention. At the traffic lights, we do get a lot of eyes following the car which was quite interesting since I was my first time going around town in a Rolls Royce. Like the Phantom it is an elegant, sophisticated and well designed machine in a sportier & younger way. At the corners, the driver turns hard and the only thing we can feel is hearing a great deal of wheel spins and we are well seated in our comfortable seats & "not flying" to the other side of the car thanks to the weight of this car which is about two & a half tons and the clever suspension which stabilises the car to prevent the passengers from moving about. In Kuching, there are potholes and patches which in a normal car makes it quite uncomfortable, but for this magnificent car it has no problems with the roads' elements for torture.
It is a car of great beauty. I love this car although I am a much bigger fan of the Rolls Royce Phantom especially the Drophead Coupe. The Phantom is one of my dream cars, it's massive, it 's beautiful & it's elegant to the extend you will feel proud to park this beautiful king in front of the hotel or even a casino for people to admire.
This experience is obviously one I would never ever forget. These cars of course come with an obscene price tag, in Malaysia the starting price is around Rm2.2mil. This IS a dream car & one day if I can afford them the Rolls Royce is definitely one of those I would love to own
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